… but you do not want to deny your grief, for the loss of life, and love, and hope that you have suffered. You want to give thanks, but you are afraid of becoming faithless, betraying your pain.

It is enough to give bitter thanks for the mixed blessings of mortality, even to give gritted-teeth thanks for the opportunity to pick yourself off the ground, prove stronger than any imagined; or to stay there a while longer. It is enough to shout sarcastic, cynical thanks to the sky, and weep. No one will be any the wiser.

And when you have spent your anger on thanksgiving and its unreasonable, seasonal demands, perhaps, you may hear the whisper of God’s Spirit,

“You’re welcome. You are welcome. Welcome home.”